


Day 20 - Yule Ball

by CosmoKid



Series: 2018 Rarepair Advent Calendar [20]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Book 4: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Crushes, First Dates, M/M, Yule Ball (Harry Potter), hand-holding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-20
Updated: 2018-12-20
Packaged: 2019-09-23 11:57:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,216
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17079884
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CosmoKid/pseuds/CosmoKid
Summary: The last time Dean Thomas asked someone to a school dance, he’d just walked right up to them and asked without even thinking about it so he has no idea why the idea of doing that now makes his stomach churn.





	Day 20 - Yule Ball

**Author's Note:**

> i kinda wanted to do this better, but im at a standstill with writers block so im just gonna put it out there now  
> i hope its not too bad

The last time Dean Thomas asked someone to a school dance, he’d just walked right up to them and asked without even thinking about it so he has no idea why the idea of doing that now makes his stomach churn.

Granted the last time, he’d asked a girl out and it was to the school disco when he was 10 years old. It’s not really the same, but it’s still weird to him that he was so carefree back then. Rejection just didn’t bother him. God, he wishes he could say the same for the current him.

He knows he has to give himself some leniency with this. He was 10 and he was asking out a girl which is a bit of a different thing to 14-year-old him asking a boy out in 1994. He knows that it’s different in the Wizarding World and that no one will really care, especially with the Triwizard Tournament happening right now. No one is going to care about some random gay Gryffindor kid with Harry Potter walking around being Harry Potter and Viktor Krum staying at Hogwarts. 

And yet as he stares at Seamus across the classroom, his heart begins to pound in his ears and his throat feels tighter and tighter and tighter, and he just can’t stop thinking about the kid on his block who was found dead after his parents saw him snogging another boy. It wasn’t ruled as a homicide, but everyone in the street knew what really happened.

There’s a part of him that knows that nothing like that would happen if he asked Seamus to the ball, but even without that, he knows he’s way too cowardly to actually ask Seamus anyway.

So much for that bravery part of being a Gryffindor.

~***~

He thinks about asking Seamus a few more times. He writes a cute letter to give to him, he plans out an entire speech, he even asks Lavender Brown for advice.

By the end of November, he’s as prepared as he could be. He knows what you’re supposed to say when you ask someone to a ball, he knows what type of flowers he should get and how to get them, he even gets dancing lessons from an older muggle-born girl in secret. He’s prepared to ask and he’s prepared to give Seamus the best night he can get.

He still doesn’t ask. 

Inside, he knows he should. This is the best chance he’s going to get, but he just can’t bring himself to. He hasn’t told his Mom about the whole gay thing and if it somehow gets to her, he wouldn’t know what to do. 

It’s not even about that really. He knows that but admitting that he’s scared Seamus doesn’t feel that way is something he’s not really up for it right now.

So he doesn’t ask. He keeps his mouth shut and tries not to think about the fact that he’s in love with his best friend.

~***~

It turns out he doesn’t need to ask Seamus because he gets asked himself two days before. First by a third-year Hufflepuff girl who really wants to come to the ball and it hurts him to say no, but he doesn’t know her. 

Seamus finds the whole debacle hilarious when Dean tells him about it, red in the face. It’s apparently so funny that Seamus falls off his bed laughing. He helps his best friend up on the bed, dragging him up basically since Seamus is still laughing. Dean rolls his eyes and pushes himself away a bit, sitting against the headboard. He glares about his best friend who just continues to laugh.

“Hey Dean,” Seamus starts when he’s finished laughing and Dean just stares at him blankly. Seamus raises his eyebrows at him, crossing his arms. “I think we should go to the Yule Ball together.”

His heart basically leaps into his throat when he processes the words. He swallows. “I thought that was the plan anyway. It’s not like you’re going to get a date anytime soon.”

Seamus rolls his eyes but smiles at Dean. There’s something different in his eyes. “I _meant_ ,” Seamus starts and Dean just stares like a lovestruck fool which isn’t at all inaccurate. “That we could go _together_ , like together together.” 

He continues to stare blankly for several seconds. “Like a, like going as dates?”

“Yeah,” Seamus says, looking less confident. Dean is still staring at him blankly as his brain tries to process it all.

“Uh okay, yeah, yeah,” he stutters out.

“Yeah?” Seamus asks, a small grin growing on his face. Dean nods, his brain basically broken at this point. “Great. I can’t wait to see you in dress robes.”

~***~

He doesn’t wear dress robes; he refuses to.

Dress robes are just a little bit much. He knows it’s a wizard thing and that wearing them is a thing you’re meant to do, but still. It looks like something some over-the-top celebrity would wear to an over-the-top award show his Mom would complain about. And some of the designs are just weird. He’s never seen so many frills on _anything._

So he wears a tux. It’s simple and maybe a little boring so he chooses an almost metallic blue suit. It’s a little different from the rest of the students, but when he sees what Ron Weasley is wearing, he knows no one is going to notice him. 

“Dude, is that Hermione with Viktor Krum?” Dean jumps when he hears Seamus’ voice. 

He spins around to see his best friend, _his date_ , behind him. He’s staring at the Triwizard bunch and Dean follows his gaze and confirms, “Yeah, I guess it is.”

“Wow,” Seamus says, looking lovestruck. He’d completely forgotten how much teenage wizards loved Quidditch. “Imagine being Viktor Krum’s date.”

“What? Am I not good enough for you?” he asks, turning his head back to face Seamus completely. 

“I mean, you’re pretty great and all, but you’re not Viktor Krum,” Seamus says as he turns back to look at Dean. He seems to look even more lovestruck and Dean’s stomach flips. And those are the nerves; they’re back.

Dean swallows and takes a deep breath. “I mean, I could say the same about you and David Beckham.”

“Who’s David Beckham?” Seamus asks, cocking his head to the side. He looks like he’s actually searching his brain for who Beckham is as if he’ll even know. 

“No one you’d know,” Dean tells him, letting a grin grow on his face. Seamus looks a little confused, but he grins back and then, all to Dean’s surprise, grabs his hand. It’s hesitant and Dean is just as hesitant as their fingers intertwine. He gives Seamus a nervous grin. “I don’t suppose you know how to dance.”

~***~

His plan was to watch the competitors dance to get an idea of how to do it, but he’s holding Seamus’ hand and standing next to Seamus and he’s at a dance with Seamus and his brain just can’t process anything, but how happy he is.

So when it comes to dancing, they’re stepping on each other’s feet and they’re knocking into other couples and they miss pretty much every step, but he doesn’t care because he’s dancing with Seamus and really, nothing else matters.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! 
> 
> come scream with me on [tumblr](https://cosmo-k-i-d.tumblr.com/%22)  
> Happy Holidays!


End file.
